The invention relates to improvements in methods of and in apparatus for adhesively bonding discrete or coherent objects to each other. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in methods of and in apparatus for securing to each other selected portions of one and the same blank or of two or more discrete blanks by resorting to an adhesive substance. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in methods of and in apparatus for bonding to each other portions of successive receptacles or containers which can be utilized with advantage for the confinement of smokers"" products such as plain or filter cigarettes, cigars or cigarillos, or arrays or groups of packs each of which contains an array of discrete rod-shaped smokers"" products.
A so-called pack of cigarettes or other rod-shaped smokers"" products (hereinafter referred to as cigarettes for the sake of simplicity) can constitute a so-called soft or hinged-lid pack. In either event, the receptacle or packet which confines the array of cigarettes can contain an inner envelope which can contain a layer of metallic foil, an outer envelope of paper or lightweight cardboard which surrounds the inner envelope, and a transparent outermost envelope of cellophane or the like. Each envelope can constitute a converted blank which is treated in a packing machine, preferably in such a way that the blank which is to constitute the inner envelope is folded around an array of, for example, twenty cigarettes each. The blank which is to constitute the outer envelope is thereupon folded around the inner envelope, and the blank which is to constitute the outermost envelope is folded around the outer envelope.
The conversion of blanks into envelopes involves folding selected portions of the blanks relative to each other and tereupon maintaining the folded portions in their new positions. This often involves the utilization of a suitable adhesive which is applied by one or more pasters and which must be allowed or caused to set, e.g., by pressing the parts which are to be adhesively bonded to each other against one another between a back support and a mobile pressure exerting member.
A modern cigarette packing machine is designed to turn out large numbers of cigarette packs per unit of time. The same holds true for a modern carton making machine which is designed to confine a group of, for example, ten cigarette packs in a cardboard receptacle. A carton making machine also resorts to adhesive in order to ensure that the overlapping parts of the carton will remain in reliable contact with each other.
The utilization of adhesive (glue) in such high-output machines presents numerous problems because an adhesive requires a certain interval of time to set, i.e., to bond two neighboring panels, walls, flaps, tucks or like parts of a converted paper, cardboard or other blank to each other with a force which is required for further processing of the thus obtained receptacles (e.g., for storage, for transport from the manufacturing plant to the distributor and for manipulation by the purchaser). During such interval of time, the parts or objects (such as sheets and/or panels) which are to be adhesively secured to each other must be pressed against each other between a pressure applying member and a back support. If the available interval of time is shorter than the required minimum interval, the bond is unsatisfactory and the adhesively secured parts of a converted blank are likely to open at an inopportune time.
Attempts to overcome the above-enumerated problems include the utilization of hybrid glues, namely of a hot melt which can be treated to establish a bond after elapse of a short interval of time and a cold glue which can secure two surfaces to each other after elapse of a longer interval of time. It is also known to employ various types of drying apparatus, e.g., heating systems which rely on heating as a result of direct contact between the heat transmitting and the heat receiving parts, or heating systems which operate with radiation heat. Neither the direct- or radiation-heating systems, nor the hybrid glues are enirely satisfactory for a number of reasons. For example, resort to a direct heating system can entail excessive heating of the tracks for the commodities to be bonded to each other, especially during unanticipated stoppages of a packing machine; this can result in charring of the blanks or finished receptacles and in unacceptable discoloration and/or weakening of the receptacles. Moreover, the transfer of heat between a moving object and a stationary object (such as between a moving blank or partially finished receptacle and the tracks for the moving part) cannot be regulated and maintained with a requisite degree of accuracy. If the moving part is a cigarette pack, unpredictable heating of the pack can bring about highly undesirable changes of the aroma of tobacco smoke. Furthermore the utilization of an electromagnetic field in connection with the heating of objects which contain metallic wrapping material (such as metallic foil) can induce voltages which can damage the commodities due to flashover.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,533 (granted Mar. 31, 1998 to Focke et al. for xe2x80x9cPROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING PACKS WITH AN OUTER WRAPPER CONSISTING OF PAPER OR THE LIKExe2x80x9d) proposes to apply patches of hot melt to a running web of wrapping material which is thereupon subdivided into blanks. The blanks are converted into receptacles for arrays of cigarettes and the hot melt is activated during certain stages of conversion of blanks into receptacles, e.g., on a so-called folding turret and/or in a so-called pack tower. This contributes significantly to the space requirements as well as to the initial and maintenance cost of the packing machine.
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved method of applying and otherwise manipulating adhesive in a time- and space-saving manner.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved method of making packets, cartons and other types of receptacles for smokers"" products.
A further object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved method of activating adhesive paste during or preparatory or subsequent to application to blanks of paper, cardboard or other wrapping materials, especially those which are utilized in the tobacco processing industry.
An additional object of the instant invention is to provide a method of making packs, cartons and other types of commodities which contain smokers"" products in such a way that the contents of the commodities are not damaged and/or otherwise adversely influenced due to the utilization and/or processing of adhesive between overlapping parts (such as walls, panels, flaps, tucks or the like) of the receptacles for the smokers"" products.
Still another object of the invention is to provide novel and improved cigarette packs, cartons for cigarette packs and analogous products of the tobacco processing industry.
A further object of the invention is to provide a novel machine for the making of receptacles for smokers"" products such as packs of plain or filter cigarettes, cigarillos or the like as well as so-called cartons for such packs.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a packing machine with novel and improved means for applying and/or otherwise manipulating adhesive which is to bond parts of cigarette packets, cartons and analogous receptacles to each other.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a cigarette packing or an analogous machine with novel and improved mobile blank processing devices.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a cigarette packing or cigarette pack packing machine with novel and improved means for conveying discrete packets or assemblies of packets through adhesive applying and adhesive processing stations.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method of manipulating smokers"" products in such a way that their appearance and/or the taste and aroma of their smoke and/or other desirable parameters are not influenced by the treatment they must undergo because their receptacles include parts which are held together by adhesive.
Another object of the invention is enhance the versatility of various component parts of a cigarette packing or cigarette carton making machine and to thus reduce the total number of parts in such machine without affecting the qauality and/or appearance of paper blanks, cardboard blanks and/or other constituents of receptacles for cigarettes or packets of cigarettes or other rod-shaped smokers"" products.
One of several features of the present invention resides in the provision of a method of bonding a surface of a first object (such as a flap forming part of a blank made of paper or cardboard) to a surface of a second object (e.g., to a wall, flap, tuck or another part of the aforementioned blank). The improved method comprises the steps of applying an adhesive to at least one of the surfaces, establishing contact between the applied adhesive and the other surface, and ultrasonically atomizing the adhesive not later than in the course of the contact establishing step.
The atomizing step includes or can include vibrating the at least one surface at an ultrasonic frequency.
As already mentioned hereinabove, the first object can be connected with the second object prior to the establishment of adhesive contact between the adhesive which is applied to the one surface and the other surface. Thus, the first object can be of one piece with the second object; for example, the objects can form part of a receptacle for smokers"" products.
The atomizing step can be started prior to the contact establishing step, or the atomizing step can be terminated prior to start of the contact establishing step. It is also possible to carry out the atomizing step in the course of the contact establishing step.
The method can further comprise the step of applying to the objects pressure to urge the adhesive at the one surface against the other surface starting not later than in the course of the contact establishing step; the atomizing step of such method can be carried out simultaneously with the contact establishing step and/or simultaneously with the pressure applying step.
The contact establishing step can include contacting the object having the one surface solely by an ultrasonic atomizer; the atomizing step of such method can include utilizing the atomizer to move the object having the one surface against the object having the other surface, i.e., the atomizer can perform several functions or operations. The step of utilizing the atomizer can include resorting to the atomizer as a means for changing the orientation of the object having the one surface relative to the other surface (such orientation changing step can include pivoting the object having the one surface relative to the other object, e.g., along a preformed fold line.
Another feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a method of respectively bonding a surface of each of first and second objects to a surface of each of third and fourth objects, e.g., of bonding a first flap of a paper or cardboard blank to a first panel or wall of the blank and of simultaneously bonding a second flap of such blank to a second panel or wall of the blank. This method comprises the steps of applying an adhesive to the surfaces of the first and second objects (such as the aforementioned first and second flaps), establishing contact between the applied adhesive and the surfaces of the third and fourth objects (such as the aforementioned first and second walls) respectively, and ultrasonically atomizing the adhesive not later than in the course of the contact establishing step.
The atomizing step can include simultaneously atomizing adhesive at the surfaces of the first and second objects. Furthermore, the atomizing step can take place simultaneously with the contact establishing step.
The objects can form part of a one-piece blank of paper, cardboard or the like.
The atomizing step can include contacting the first and second objects only by discrete ultrasonic atomizers in the course of the atomizing step, and the contact establishing step can can be carried out by resorting to such discrete atomizers. Thus, it is not necessary (or it is not always necessary) to provide discrete back supports or anvils for those objects which do not carry layers or strips or films of adhesive. The contact establishing step of such method can include changing the orientation of the first and second objects relative to the third and fourth objects, respectively; as mentioned hereinbefore, the orientation changing step can include pivoting the first and second objects relative to the third and fourth objects, respectively, and/or vice versa.
A further feature of the instant invention resides in the provision of an apparatus for making receptacles from blanks of the type having first and second parts (such as a flap and a wall forming part of a paper or cardboard blank). The apparatus comprises blank converting means including at least one draping member at least a portion of which constitutes an ultrasonic atomizer for adhesive, and means for moving at least one of the at least one draping member and a blank relative to the other of these parts to thus establish contact between the adhesive at the one side of the first part and the second part of the blank as well as to simultaneously at least partially atomize the adhesive.
The moving means can include means (e.g., an indexible turret) for moving the blank relative to the at least one draping member.
The improved apparatus is characterized in that it does not have or need not have one or more back supports for the second part during the establishment of contact between the adhesive and the second part of the blank.
The at least one draping member can include means for folding one of the first and second parts of the blank relative to the other of the first and second parts.
The moving means can comprise a conveyor having means for moving or advancing a series of successive blanks in a predetermined direction along a predetermined path; the at least one draping member is then adjacent a predetermined portion of the path and extends at least substantially transversely of the predetermined direction. The at least one draping member of such apparatus can include a blank-contacting surface having portions which are located at different distances from the predetermined portion of the path. The aforementioned surface of the at least one draping member can constitute a convex surface. The arrangement can be such that the surface of the at least one draping member includes at least one first portion which is disposed at an at least substantially unchanging distance from the path and at least one second portion disposed at a varying distance from such path.
The blank converting means can include two draping members which flank a path for a series of blanks, and the moving means of such apparatus can include means for conveying the blanks of the series along the path. The two draping members are or can be mirror images of each other, and each of the series of blanks includes the first and second parts which are movable past one of the two draping members and third and fourth parts which constitute mirror images of the first and second parts and are movable past the other draping member. The blanks which enter the path can have a width greater than the width of the path.
At least one of the two draping members can constitute an ultrasonic atomizer for adhesive, or at least a portion of such at least one draping member can constitute an ultrasonic atomizer for adhesive.
The moving means of the improved apparatus can include an indexible turret for blanks.
The blank converting means of the improved apparatus can form part of a cigarette making or a cigarette carton making machine. Furthermore, the moving means and the blank converting means can be installed adjacent a path for a series of successive blanks. Still further, the moving means and the blank converting means can form part of a drying unit (such as a so-called pack tower) in a packing machine for cigarettes and other smokers"" products.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The improved apparatus itself, however, both as to its construction and the modes of assembling, installing and utilizing the same, together with numerous additional important and advantageous features and attributes thereof, will be best understood upon perusal of the following detailed description of certain presently preferred specific embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.